Radio frequency transceivers include both a transmitter and a receiver in a single package. Transceivers are used in mobile cell towers of cellular wireless telecommunications networks, which are provided to facilitate radio access and wireless communication between user equipment and a network. Such mobile cell towers are commonly referred to by different terms which depend on the type of a radio access technology used to implement the radio access functionality of the tower and a part of the telecommunications network that utilizes the tower. When implemented in 2G or 2.5G telecommunications networks such as e.g. GSM, mobile cell towers are typically referred to as Base Transceiver Stations (BTS's). When implemented in 3G telecommunications networks such as e.g. UMTS, mobile cell towers are typically referred to as NodeBs (sometimes abbreviated as NBs). When implemented in 4G telecommunications networks such as e.g. Long Term Evolution (LTE), mobile cell towers are typically referred to as eNodeBs (sometimes abbreviated as eNBs). In the following, the term “base station” is used as a common term to describe a mobile cell tower independent of any specific type of a telecommunications network, i.e. to describe a radio access point that supports radio access between user equipment and the core of a telecommunications network. User equipment includes mobile phones, tablets, and devices with wireless connectivity, etc. Large base stations (or macrocells) can have a range of tens of kilometers, and can support many users at a time. Transceivers in macrocells are usually designed for high performance, without much concern for cost or power efficiency. Transceivers with small form factor are used in mobile handsets to provide wireless communications between mobile handsets and mobile cell towers. Transceivers in handsets are usually designed with reasonable or mediocre performance at low cost while consuming small amounts of power.
Besides being used in macrocells, transceivers are also used in small cell base stations (where, again, depending on the network, terms other than “base station” may be used—e.g. Home eNodeB, abbreviated as HeNB, is used in LTE networks, but “base station” as defined herein is intended to cover those network nodes as well), which are, essentially, full featured radio access points as macrocells, but configured to provide proximate coverage in a smaller area, e.g. in business or residential environments, than macrocells. Typically small cell radio access points operate at lower power levels than macrocells and serve as low-powered radio access nodes with ranges between 10 meters to 1 or 2 kilometers. Small cells can include femtocells, picocells, and microcells. These small cells are sometimes used to offload data traffic to enable a more efficient use of radio spectrum. For instance, a small cell provides high-quality cellular phone reception within a home, allowing everyone in the home unlimited voice and data usage. The small cell overcomes the limitation of 3G signals from the base station to penetrate walls, and enables high-speed access to mobile data services such as browsing the Internet, downloading music, and streaming video. With its tremendous advantages, millions or perhaps billions of small cells have been or will be deployed.